Local Wedding Shop Closes, Owners Vanish With Brides’ Dresses And Cash

Isabella’s Wedding Center at 2299 Coney Island Avenue. (Source: Google Maps)

Several wedding parties were left in the lurch after the owners of a local bridal shop abruptly closed their store and vanished along with their customers’ cash and dresses.

Victoria Viviani, of Marine Park, said she put a $1,000 deposit on a wedding dress she had been fitted for at Isabella’s Wedding Center, located on Coney Island Avenue between Avenue T and Avenue S. In mid-December, Viviani went to the store to talk to the owners about bridesmaid’s dresses. She was shocked to discover the business had closed and the shop had been emptied.

“The gates were down, the mannequins were naked, the display cases were emptied. They just vanished,” said Viviani. “It’s one thing to run away with people’s money if its a small item. But this is not a coffee pot, where you place an order and it didn’t come in. This is a wedding day that these people are screwing up.”

Viviani said some of the neighboring businesses told her the owners had closed the store weeks earlier and held a clearance sale right before they disappeared.

Viviani wasn’t the only bride ambushed by the sudden closure of the bridal shop. The business’ Yelp page has several frantic messages from women who claim they were scammed by the couple who own the store.

Lisa Fiorenza said she learned Isabella’s had closed after reading one of the Yelp reviews. She had been trying to call the store for almost a week around Christmas time to check on the status of her bridesmaid’s dresses. The girls had already payed a total of $1,400 for the dresses when they ordered them in October, Fiorenza said.

“I was in disbelief. They stole our money. They just took it and ran with no explanation,” she said.

Fiorenza said she feels like what happened was a crime and suspects the owners knew the store would close when they took their money.

“We placed the orders at the end of October. So I have to imagine that by then, she knew where her business was financially. She would have had to know if she was closing abruptly in December,” said Fiorenza said. “I think this is absolutely theft.”

In the meantime, Fiorenza’s bridesmaids, as well as Viviani, are trying to recover their money from their credit card companies. They are also scrambling to get new dresses before their wedding day. Viviani gets married in November. Fiorenza in April.

“It’s a huge headache and an added financial burden. I can believe that anyone would do this to someone else,” said Fiorenza.

The wedding shop horror story was first reported on Monday by News 12 Brooklyn. Since then, several people have stepped forward to help the brides. A photographer, Dan Lee, has volunteered his services at no cost, the women said, as well as the owner of a wedding accessories company, who is making Viviani’s veil for free.

Alisa Koysman, owner of the wedding accessories company Alisa Brides, grew up in Sheepshead Bay. She said her first sale was to Isabella’s Wedding Center and that the owners stiffed her on half the items they ordered. That experience, Koysman said, is why she decided to start selling her products on her website and on Etsy, instead of dealing with salons.

“If you were going to ask me which bridal shop in Brooklyn would do something like this, I would say them,” Koysman explained. “But I’m still shocked that someone would have the audacity to just run off with all these deposits. It’s crazy.”

Koysman is also encouraging any other brides whose wedding plans were upended by Isabella’s to contact her for a free item.

Viviani said she’s working with another salon, Lotus Bridal on Avenue U, to get a new wedding dress. She says she doubts that the owners of Isabella’s will ever be found.

“I think the odds of finding these people are slim. I’m sure they skipped town,” she said. “I’m trying to stay positive. It’s an opportunity to look for another dress. Not many girls get to shop twice for a dress for the same man.”